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'Brilliant match' Hewitt draws accolades from Clinton, Howard
ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) -- New U.S. Open tennis champion Lleyton Hewitt drew accolades Monday from Australia's prime minister and former U.S. president Bill Clinton after his straight-sets win over Pete Sampras. The 20-year-old from Adelaide won $850,000 following his 7-6 (7-4), 6-1, 6-1 win over Pete Sampras to claim his first grand slam title in New York on Sunday. Clinton said Hewitt deserved his win. "I just think Hewitt played brilliantly," said Clinton, who is on an Australian visit. "He is young, he has those great legs, you know, he played a brilliant match. "It must have meant even more to him to have beaten Pete Sampras. Sampras was quite a gentleman in the end ... but Hewitt deserved to win. He played better and he was great." Australian Prime Minister John Howard, in Washington on an official visit, interrupted a high-powered barbecue to watch the end of Hewitt's match. Howard was holding talks with Vice president Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld before he ducked into the Australian ambassador's residence to watch the closing stages of the match with his son, Tim. "It is absolutely fantastic -- this is a great achievement," Howard said. "It was against the odds to beat Sampras at Flushing Meadows." In a quirky tribute, Tennis Australia president Geoff Pollard called on fans to wear their hats backward on Tuesday. "What better message of support can we send to him out in New York than to see images in the media of Australians of all ages paying tribute to his success by wearing their hats backward for a day in trademark Hewitt style?" Pollard said. The principal of his former college said Hewitt made a good decision to quit school early. Hewitt attended Adelaide's Immanuel College but left halfway through year 11 at age 16 when he won his first ATP Tour title in his home town. "He's obviously made the right decision, hasn't he?" Immanuel College principal Neville Highett said. "He had interruptions in his schooling as he traveled the circuit, but he always maintained his school work and always sent his assignments back." Hewitt's win made the front pages of most major daily newspapers on Tuesday. Most newspapers had already published their Monday editions before the Hewitt victory. "Hewitt slogs his way into Australia's good books," said Brisbane's Courier-Mail, referring to Hewitt's racial outburst made in a tirade during a match against American James Blake. The Daily Telegraph in Sydney, in an editorial, also mentioned the Blake incident. It said that when when Hewitt beat Sampras, he "was not only in control of the game, but also of his own demeanor, which at times has detracted from his natural ability, and left his sportsmanship open to question."
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